Contents Foreplay ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 1 The Circle's Paradox ................................ ................................ ................................ .................. 1 Zoom ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .......... 2 Begin An Art Work. The Lake ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 3 The Shitty, But Important Lines ................................ ................................ ................................ 4 Making A Tree More Like A Tree ................................ ................................ ............................... 6 Begone, Turkey! ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................... 8 The Scratch Method ................................ ................................ ................................ ................ 11 The Circle's Paradox, Again ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 17 Materials And Surfaces ................................ ................................ ................................ ............ 19 Human Potato ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................... 24 Shadows, Shades ................................ ................................ ................................ ..................... 26 Natural Structures ................................ ................................ ................................ ................... 30 DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my family and best friend, and my fellow MS paint artists and users of r/mspaint NOTES ● This document does not teach you how to draw. It only shows you how to use your PC mouse techniques along with your skills to draw faster and with a reasonable degree of quality. ● The style of art in this document is considered rough, unclean lines. ● You are encouraged to do your research in any topic mentioned in this document. ● The blazing artistic powers of your PC mouse by Neptune Ringgs is marked with CC0 1.0 - 1 - FOREPLAY Since day one, PC mice had that birth mark of heroism and uniqueness: Limitation ! Of course it's not very limited when you quickly click on stuff, threatening baddies with your assault rifle, or quickly closing some tabs before your sister can tell. When it comes to art, a PC mouse doesn't seem to be the ideal tool to produce masterpieces like tablets or scanned drawings do. Sure, if you are a pixel artist things can take another turn, but drawing freely isn't an easy task. Please note that – when it comes to art, or anything - every person has his own style and methods. Everything in this document is based on my personal experience that may differ greatly from yours. I have more than a decade and a half of my life devoted to d rawing with a PC mouse, but this doesn't make me a skillful god - tier artist you blindly take his words for unshakable truth. There is nothing like that. But I hope you will find something useful here. If you want to examine other styles please refer to r/mspaint subreddit, a place where many very good artists share their artworks. THE CIRCLE'S PARADOX Now open up MS paint and try to draw a circle, you may succeed in drawing the first half arc, but the second one will be shitty enough to not look like an arc. But why? Once again, PC mice are not very fit for the job, not directly anyway. Some say it's not a precise tool, but I don't agree with that , but I will say that its shape is an ultimate letdown, but hey! A PC mouse is crafted that way and we should accept it and work our ways according to that. Another question, Why MS paint? There is no doubt you can use any software, but MS paint is old - school and simple, and limited! Nonetheless, it has its own charm. Fig.1 They are all bad, but one is less "bad" than the other. - 2 - In this book I'll try to talk and demonstrate how you can make some reasonable - quality , "freehand" art. You should note that I'm not talking about pixel art as it's a whole another domain, but some pixel art techniques will be used when drawing small details. Also, this form of art can be used as a rough foundation of pixel art projects. ZOOM The first step to control your artwork is to zoom the area you are working on, I think everyone knows this, and to look to the whole picture while in zoom mode, click on View in the main menu then Zoom in \ Zoom out - > Show preview ( I have windows XP, so I'm not sure about the other systems ). Fig.2 Now I can draw/fine - tune any part without the fear of messing with scales. So if you don't zoom in and activate preview, you'll find yourself erasing and redrawing again, which is utterly frustrating. So keep the habit of seeing the bigger picture. - 3 - THE MAT Fig.3 A resistant surface is the best for drawing because it gives you more control. If you have a smooth and fast mat that makes your mouse slide like butter in a pan, then use another one that resists your mouse movement. I'm not sure if there is such a thing in the market, but if there isn't, then here is a quick hack: peel your mat , find an old mat and remove that skin (Or simply just flip it upside down, usually, this will do the trick). A resistant surface will reveal itself, that is what makes PC drawing fun. Fig.4 Now pull that thing up and get yourself a convenient drawing playground! BEGIN AN ART WORK. The lake Probably, you wouldn't fire up your drawing program if you don't have an idea of what to draw. But, what is the best practice? It is important to picture a general idea in your mind before transferring it into canvas. Suppose you want to draw a boy standin g by a lake watching a swan. I immediately imagined a boy wearing a hat on a spring day near a lake shore standing with his hands in his pockets and enjoying the sight. Here is how I put this in MS paint: - 4 - THE SHITTY, BUT IMPORTANT LINES Fig.5 My initial thought of the scene. One has to clutch onto logic, after I chose the dimensions of my picture, I set the zoom to X2 (double of current size. Simply click on Magnifier then choose X2). I began by drawing a horizon line to decide the position of my eyes. After that, I drew some lines to resemble the elements of the scene: Lake, tree, mountains... etc. If you study the picture, you'll notice that my eyes are slightly above the objects ( boy, swan and tree ). Also note that this picture is not made using real perspective lines, so, objects may seem wrong to the eyes of an experienced artist, but this is not the point now. Now we throw around some details. Fig.6 A new land, YAY! The thing is, you add details to the environment first, because: 1) It is the main player here is not the kid, he is just a disposable element. I could have replaced him with anything and the value of the drawing would stay the same. 2) Getting rid of the environment first - 5 - will facilitate the drawing, so I added some details to the lake. And add another land in the half section to make it more believable. Either way will work. This order of priorities is not a rule, it's just how I do it, so you may disagree with me. Now let's add more details to the lake. Fig.7 Some movement was added to the scene. As you can see, the surface of the lake has some ripples and small waves and a vague reflection, it's a sign that the lake is a part of an interactive environment. The air and swan and maybe the leaves of the tree cause the movement of the surface of the l ake. Other details will be added when we mix some shades, but until then, we're going to fix the other elements in the scene. Fig.8 What the hill is that? A new element. Lame puns aside , I thought it is boring to draw one big flat land, so I decided to add a cliffy hill to the lake. This is a quick sketch of how I did it: Fig.9 Start simple. Then add details, after that, you erase details as needed. - 6 - In the third image I added lines to represent jagged rocks and soils, but in the last one I took the liberty of changing the element. By erasing parts of the jagged lines to represent decay. MAKING A TREE MORE LIKE A TREE I'm not a treelogy scientist but I can confidently say that trees usually have textured trunks. Fig.10 Tree textures are usually vertical. Vertical lines in the trunk follow the shape of the trunk, if a tree's trunk looks like a belly then they may create a circular pattern. An example will come in the next image. Fig.11 A little demo on how to texture a standard tree trunk. Please note that not all trees created equally, some may have smooth trunks and others are slim and so on. So this method is limited. Here are some various examples: Fig.11.2 Some other types. - 7 - Fig.12 The leaves take a general shape. We are getting somewhere. The leaves make a standard look; the method of drawing this can go with almost any type of trees ( or any fluffy thing ). Before I continue, I'll make an example. Fig.13 One method, too many ugly trees. Starting with the general shape by drawing an outline, and then add just little details to the interior of that outline to define the structure of the object, after that add details to those details. Please note that I didn’t use reference photos so these types of trees are unrealistic. Copy from nature and your surroundings, it's a good habit. ( I should listen to myself ). But let me tell you this, drowning your art with details can make your artwork hard to understand. Only add too much details to objects that will not ruin everything when gone to fancy mode. For me: Simple is the rule, complex is only an exception. - 8 - Fig.14 Extra details on the shady side. You may have noticed earlier, that I've decided that the source of light is on the right side of the scene. I can take advantage of this and create details on the left side, representing both details and shades at the same time. Also I erased little bits o f the leaves on the right side, this way I can illustrate much more illumination to the scene. BEGONE, TURKEY! I know that swan looks like a turkey more than a swan, so I edited the image. Erase and fine - tune without erasing the whole outline if you can. After that I drew some lines as shades on the body of the swan to give it more depth. Fig.15 More swan, less turkey. Now, before we jump to the shore I'll draw the kid. But before that I'll show you how I usually draw humans . First I think of the scene and the pose my human will perform. Then I draw the skeleton. By the skeleton I mean: minimal lines you can build upon. If you think that the next example is complex and has escalated fast, then remove all the details (shadows, costume folds... etc.) from inside of the outline of the third cell (fully complete one), the drawing will look very simple. - 9 - Fig.16 The most blue lines are the details I added in every phase. I imagined a guy trying to lift a heavy box. First, he bends his knees and back to raise the box off the ground, surprised by the weight, he realizes that he can't straighten his knees nor his back, he is not strong enough to do that. This is what came to my mind so I sketched the initial pose and tried to be faithful to the image in my mind. After that I added just little details to form a clearer shot. When I was comfortable enough I added the details I see they fit ( pants, shoes, t - shirt and short hair... etc. ). So the initial skeleton can be anything I want. The boy by the lake already has enough details to work from, so I'll jump directly to phase three of the figure above. Fig.17 Pants are overrated. - 10 - I'll show you a simplified method of drawing the human body with a PC mouse later, but now I will continue with the scene, which is almost finished. What remained is the far away background and the ground. The ground can be done simply by randomly scatteri ng grass and other flora elements. Fig.18 Ground full of randomly positioned lines. You can always draw realistic grass, but that will be a tedious job that can be done in a long time, or just draw some lines that can resemble grass. In the picture above, that method is the simplest one and if you mix it with colors or tones, it will be g ood. I'm not going to use the mixing method but may use it later. If you haven't already noticed, the cliffy hill has lines along its base, that, to illustrate its concave nature. Like I have said earlier ( tree trunks ), lines follow the object's curvature and direction, if you stick to this idea, your drawings will be correct. Once again, a good habit I – the lazy dude - don't always do. In the next picture I'll show you the background and after that I'll show you how I do it. Sometimes backgrounds don't need a lot of details if they are distant, only enough details to figure out what they are. Fig.19 Don't worry, water and mountains in the background made of one easy mutual method. How did I do it? I drew water and mountains and then filled them with gray then I scratched them, that's it! I'll show you how. This method will be used for many things, shadows, bright colors, reflective surfaces, fog, smoke and so on. - 11 - The Scratch method Fig.20 Scratch method can create a good atmosphere. How exactly do you use it? First of all, draw the object you want as a whole area of color ( see the mountain example in the image above ). Delete the part of the object you want to be replaced with haze, fog or reflection ( like the base of the mountain here ). Now scratch the object with the color of the background ( in this case, white ) so it can blend, scratch with as suits you, in my case, I scratched the mountain with equal lines ( more like dashes to me ). With the color of the object ( mountain ) I drew more scratches to create randomness and more blending feel and to blur that imaginary line I created the first time. Continue with making random noise using your tool as much as needed. To make it even more clear I'll make another simple demo to t he technique. Fig.21 Fluffy cloud fades to the sky. Fig.22 Final result. More could be done but simplicity is my motto! (I lied, I'm lazy) - 12 - If you think that this image is too complicated, you can break it down in light of what we've seen so far. All methods mentioned in this document have been applied. Take it apart and study each part. The human body will be studied later. With all that been said, the final image of the lake scene will be full of methods that you can easily recognize. To recap: Any art image may look complex at first, but in fact what is going on is pretty simple. An art piece is usually constructed as follows: 1. An idea 2. A rough outline 3. Details added to the outline 4. More details when the picture is more clear 5. Fine - tuning, applying effect methods and tricks - 13 - - 14 - Human booty Hold onto your butts, this flight is going to be bumpy. I'm assuming that you can draw and have some basic knowledge of the human body. Fig.23 So wot is this? If you still remember, this is the skeleton and we're going to fill it with stuff. Notice the pose. Fig.24 The direction of the rib cage and the pelvis. - 15 - The rib cage and the pelvis are connected by the spine, this means that they move in direction relative to each other because of the spine. Those big groups of bone shape the movement of the living being, this is important. By knowing this you move the fir st step into drawing the human body and its movement. Now, what's between these two are flexible enough to complete the shape. Before we continue, I encourage you to do research on human anatomy because I do not know everything about it. I will give you basic information and how you achieve it with your PC mouse. In the picture above my lines are bad because of many reasons. 1) I'm only highlighting my way to my next step and don't need fancy lines, they are guidelines and they are going to be erased. 2) PC mouse drawing isn't very easy and is time consuming so don 't perfect every guideline, work smart. Fig.25 Soft tissue is blue. The blue line is ( well, basically anything not a bone ), In the right blue line there is a bulging mass, because there is pressure on it. Fig.26 Extra examples. - 16 - So, the outer case of the body ( leather for instance ) indicates the movement of the internal parts. This can be a good idea to think about when you observe people. But note that not all body parts have the same feature. Fig.27 Somehow looks like an upside down unfinished cone. Again, I can't stress enough that you should do some research on anatomy, what I'm presenting here is only for drawing outlines but not very anatomically correct figures. The thin red lines in the picture above indicate muscle or flesh rich regions. Fig.28 The Middle right line is going outwards, this how a leg joint should look like. If you want to draw comfortably with a PC mouse, zoom in and use thick lines and from time to time combine them with some thin lines. So, red lines indicate the flow of muscles, note that the leg is not s y m me trical from the front, neither from the back nor from any angle. This can be considered true for most of the body parts. Before we continue, I'll show you how I fine - tune my lines with a PC mouse. The secret is: Zoom, Erase, Redraw - 17 - THE CIRCLE'S PARADOX, Again Fig.29 Not the best circles in the universe, but this method works like a charm So what is this? I drew a circle and it turned out to be a pathetic circle. What I had to do is to zoom in as much as I can and make the circle take up the whole screen \ window, then I erased the bad parts and redrew them with more care. This method is easy with thick lines , but with thin lines is pain in the butt. So unless you are a crazy perfectionist, you can work with the Ellipse tool. Also you can modify the lines to look like a genuinely hand - drawn circle, you know, erase, and add your imperfect lines to the circle you made with the Ellipse tool, no one will find out ( no, I only do this with absurdly long lines , but with everything else, I'm a crazy perfectionist, too ). As you may have guessed, this works with any type of line or any object. You may ask, why not use a regular circle and move on? It's not fun. Back to the human. Fig.30 A little bit foreshortened thigh with little modification. Why is this thigh oval ( thin blue lines )? It's flexed and gravity may play a role if you sit many hours a day. By using the method of zooming, erasing and redrawing we achieved a reasonably decent outline. Now, by following this simple technique we will continue drawing the rest of body parts. In this next image I removed the unnecessary internal parts and based on this, I drew what first came into my mind.